Don't try this at home !   I'm now drilling out the two large 1uF waxed tubular condensers above-decks on the Sound Unit. I'm hand-holding the condenser because to put it in a clamp would likely spoil its wax finish.

Larger-size drill follow until I have scooped out enough of the innards to allow a new 1uF polyester capacitor to be hidden inside.

And this is the result. The drilled ends are filled and then mounted pointing downwards. One condenser is the screen grid decoupler for the output stage; the other is a decoupler for the HT feed for the preceeding stage.

It strikes me the output transformer (on the right) will need a lick of varnish !

This is the new cathode decoupling electrolytic condenser for the 1st AF valve & detector - an MHD4. I've made it up specially and hidden a new electrolytic inside. Its label was generated in Paint Shop Pro, working from a digital photo of an original condenser. Print this out on cream paper, wrap it round a tube, insert the capacitor, seal the ends - and the job's done.

The Sound Unit is now valved up and finished. The two grid leads toward the left were badly frayed and were replaced using original-style fabric-covered wire.

Although it was only ever tuned to the one channel on 7.23 metres, the IF stage of this sound receiver is controlled with agc. Maybe this was thought wise because 'aircraft flutter' is a particular menace on VHF.

Moving on to the Vision Unit now, and first this is partially dismantled, then cleaned and cosmetically restored.

The mains switch panel (not shown) is attached to this assembly. I found that the original pre-war mains lead was in terrible condition and this was an accident just waiting to happen !  All is replaced and the switch terminals are shrouded.

This wirewound resistor feeds several screen grids and has gone open circuit. Maybe THIS was the fault that made the set go 'pop' while viewing...

Two other screen grid feeder resistors are also found to be high. Even before eventual failure, the gain of this unit must have been well down.

It's the end of the day now, and the Vision Unit is finished. As previously mentioned, this is a trf unit, and EMI specified different tuning 'staggers' according to how much signal was available. The less the required sensitivity, the more the vision bandwidth. I had set this to 'wide-band' when last aligning this in the '80s. Depending on how set up, the maximum sensitivity was claimed to range between 15uV and 200uV.

No nonsense with vestigial sideband in 1937 !  This is a double-sideband receiver and suits the output of today's modulators very well.

Well that has to be it for the time being. There will now be an 'interlude' for a week or two while I prioritise some paid work !  After this will follow restoration of the timebase unit, the cellulosing of the cabinet and final assembly and test. I'll be back again as soon as possible...

Well, it's been a few months rather than weeks, but now once again a brief interlude presents itself to start work on this project again.

I'm to tackle the cabinet on fine days and the timebase unit when the weather's bad. A cabinet of this size is best sprayed out of doors, at least until the very final coats, when tiny insects in the finish can become an issue.

First a couple of clear cellulose stopper coats are applied, flatted in between with 400 wet-&-dry.

Then several more stopper coats are applied to the lid, rubbing down between coats, since I've spotted a 'dent' in the veneer - only visible in glancing light. This is successfully flatted out.

At this time too, minor errors in the grain pattern, caused by previous filling of tiny pits with plastic wood, are corrected to near invisibility by spotting with wood stain...

So that when the first toner coat (of pigmented cellulose) is applied, there are virtually no 'errors' left for it to hide.

The cabinet has been partially masked off here, since the veneered front surface will later require only a faint coat of toner. This will be for colour matching - without masking the attractive grain pattern.

All the cellulose lacquers (stopper, pigmented, gloss) are mixable with each other and also with precatalysed thinners. Optimal spraying is achieved with roughly a 1 : 1 ratio of thinners-to-lacquer though this does vary and I always finally set this up by experience. The correct viscosity is revealed by how the material stirs...

For this sort of work the compressor is set to work at far lower pressure (1 bar) than for paint spraying.

So the cabinet is now finished. Here it's seen with the panels temporarily re-fitted and now looks much as it must have done when new in 1937. I've checked the colour of the new finish matches the internal boards which you may remember were already in good condition and only had a 'short' restoration.

This cabinet has had four fill coats, one toner coat, one buffer coat, and one gloss top coat, all with flatting in between. The only thing that now remains is to leave it a while, then cut back the finish to achieve a high gloss, following which I'll burnish it with wood stain and finally apply a wax polish.

Here's the timebase unit. Today I physically restored it, prior to getting to work on the electronics. The oscillating transformers and chokes are housed in pitch-filled cans, four of which can be seen in this picture.

No EHT generation nonsense with this line output stage - that's handled elsewhere. Instead, there's a choke anode load on the output valve, capacitor coupled into a transformer which simply feeds the line coils. EMI thought to mount both the choke and the transformer on rubber bushes, to reduce the sound of the 10125 Hz 'line whistle'.

I believe the electrolytic capacitor visible here on a frame, though very old, is non-original. Both this and a similar arrangement on the main power supply are to be replaced by period-style cardboard capacitor containers.

All the many potentiometers on this unit are opened and the insides coated with Waxoyl. I find this gives more durable results in the longer term than packing them with Vaseline.

A fair few of the resistors are found to be high, and one of the electrolytic capacitors completely dry. Yet she still used to work tolerably well...

Both the timebase unit and (here) the the power supply originally included cardboard boxed electrolytic capacitor stacks. I have made some new boxes up, but since I don't know their original markings I've left them blank for now...

So at last the timebase unit is finished, and with it all the various parts of this television set.

The good bit comes next. Final assembly and switch-on.

Another time slot has presented itself, so now to carry on to the end !

First, a bit of bad luck... a customer visiting the workshop manages to tip over my camera on its tripod, hitting the front of the restored cabinet. A nasty gash is produced right in the centre. It takes a full day to deal with this, though I'm pleased to say the repair is now invisible.

So it's back to attending to the tube. Here it is being cleaned. An antistatic aerosol is used to prevent the electrostatic charge repulsion effect on the glass, which can occur when an early television is first switched on. This looks like a large blank patch in the centre of the picture, which slowly gets eated away as the electron stream equalises the charges.

Electrostatic cleaner is NOT used around the area of the final anode connector however. Goggles are being worn.